If you want to start a website of your own. You may face a lot of difficulties while choosing the right CMS platform. WordPress and Webflow are two of the popular CMS platforms in the world. These platforms provide so many features that sometimes confuse us. And it becomes a harder thing to decide which platform to go with.
You can use these CMS platforms to create any type of website. Like Blogging, E-Commerce, Service, Non-Profit, Portfolio, etc. They provide a variety of tools, templates and useful features that help any level of users to quickly build their desired websites.
In this post, we will compare both WordPress and webflow platforms to various factors such as ease of use, plugins and extensions, themes, SEO, support, pricing, and more. And you’ll be able to choose the best-suited platforms for your website at the end of this blog. Also, I’ve made comparison posts between WordPress vs Squarespace and WooCommerce vs Magento, make sure you check these posts and understand what these platforms are offering.
But let’s learn about what these platforms are before we dive into the comparison.
WordPress
WordPress.org is the world’s most popular CMS platform. Approximately 35% of the World’s websites are powered by WordPress.
Please note that we’re going to compare WordPress.org with Webflow. We are not comparing WordPress.com here. WordPress.org is a free and open-source CMS software that you need to download and install on your hosting server. It was originally developed for bloggers. But now it’s used to create any kind of website.
WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress and you pay a monthly fee to run your site on this platform.
Webflow
Webflow is another popular platform for CMS. You can easily create a website by dragging and dropping components. Also, while creating your website, you don’t have to touch a piece of code. Also, you don’t have to worry about the hosting on this platform.
Now let’s compare both of these platforms and learn which one would be right for your website.
Ease of Use
WordPress
Getting started with WordPress is easy. You’ll find a simple dashboard, and you’ll see the Posts, Pages, Media, Plugins, Themes, Settings, etc menu items. Even if you’re a beginner, you can use it with ease. You can install themes, plugins to make your website attractive and add features to it.
As an open-source platform, you can customize your WordPress code and add more functionality to it. You can use page builders to create landing pages, product pages, custom pages.
If you’re a blogger, you can start creating content easily. Also, creating menu categories in WordPress is easier.
Easy to use is one of the main advantages of WordPress. It’s easy to install, and there are many online tutorials available to guide you through step-by-step installation.
Webflow
If you are a beginner and have no experience in HTML, CSS, etc., you will still find it useful to create beautiful and responsive websites. Drag and drop may look confusing at first, but if you play around, you’ll find it very easy and you’ll be able to master it quickly. Then you can design your website the way you want it to be.
The environment is a little new, and you may find it hard at first. So maybe you need some time to learn and practice. The interface is like desktop image editing Softwares. You will find menus, tools on the dashboard. You can use those to customize your site.
Moreover, there are video courses and blogs that will help you learn and master the various areas of the Webflow platform. You will learn Webflow UI, building blocks, best practices and more.
Plugins and Features
WordPress
WordPress has a vast library of over 55,000 plugins available. You can install and activate these plugins on your website. This increases the flexibility of your site.
You can use SEO plugins, cache, image optimization, security, marketing, analytics, plugins that allow WordPress to connect to 3rd party services, form plugins, social media plugins, and more. Anything you think is going to be there on WordPress.
Also, there are many third-party marketplaces available for WordPress where you can find free and premium plugins for your website. Some of the popular markets are Code Canyon, ZetaMatic, Mojo Marketplace.
I have also compiled a list of Top 6 Essential WordPress Plugins for Your Website. Check it out, and I hope it’s going to be useful to you.
Please note that the extensive use of plugins may negatively affect the performance and SEO of your site. So, you need to limit your use of plugins and use those that are really needed.
Webflow
Webflow doesn’t have a library of separate plugins. Every feature that it offers is built into its software. So you don’t need to worry about installing an extra plugin or extension.
Any features like security, products, editor, SEO, page builder, etc are built into its software. Webflow has a clean and good quality of code, while WordPress code can get bogged down when you use extensive plugins.
Similarly, Webflow has built-in drag-and-drop page building feature but you need an additional Page Builder plugin to do that in WordPress.
It also provides metatags in pages, so for checking and editing it, you don’t have to install an additional plugin. The title tags, description tags, URL layout can be tailored to your own.
Themes and Designs
WordPress
As the WordPress plugins, you will also find a huge collection of themes in the WordPress theme library. It contains popular and latest themes. You can find themes for every kind of website. Through filtering out features, you can find the best-suited theme for your website. Most of these themes are responsive to any size of the screen. Also, some of the themes offer premium features if you upgrade to their pro version.
Moreover, outside of WordPress, there are many paid markets where you can buy premium themes.
In addition, please note that while installing themes you can face compatibility issues with some plugins, so be sure to check their description before installing them on your site.
Webflow
Webflow is a design-focused web builder, so you won’t have to worry about design. You can either start from scratch or choose a ready-made theme for the creation of a professional website. A large number of free and premium themes are offered. Overall, there are over 200 of them. Over 40 free themes are available there.
After choosing the theme you can still customize it as per your taste.
Support
WordPress
While it is an open-source platform, WordPress does not have a customer support team. But you’ll have access to a large number of user tutorials, blogs, WordPress.org community, forums. Also, if you have any problems with your plugin or theme, you can contact the developer to fix the issue.
Webflow
Webflow offers a quick email support service when you have a subscription, and community support for a free account on their official Forum website. In addition, you will have free access to the courses and blogs where you can learn and fix your own issues. You can also get support via email and phone.
Pricing
WordPress
WordPress is free software that you can download easily. However, you need Hosting Service to host your website. And the hosting service charges money. But the good thing about it is that it’s starting from a very small amount of money.
Different hosting providers are offering different plans. And there are a lot of players offering good services at a much lower price. So, even if you’ve got a tight budget, you can start with WordPress.
In addition, Almost every hosting provider is providing WordPress software on its platform so you don’t need to download the software separately.
Webflow
Webflow has different plans such as Site Plans and Account Plans. It also offers a free plan which is very limited. You can only create 2 pages in its subdomain.
There are different pricing packages for websites and e-commerce sites in the Site Plans. The plans for the website package starts at $12 USD and goes up to $36 USD. And the plans for the e-commerce package starts at $29 USD and goes up to $212 USD.
In the account plans, there are also two types of packages available i.e. Individual and Team Plans. The Individual package starter plan is free and you can create up to 2 projects, and it goes up to $35 USD. The Team package has two different packages $35 USD/person. And for the higher plan i.e. Enterprise plan, you have to contact the Webflow team for customized plans.
Conclusion
Both platforms offer a wide range of features and services. And the techniques they use are different, too.
WordPress is a PHP-based open-source content management system. It offers a wide range of templates, all of which are primarily designed to help you easily create a website. While it is possible to create a standard WordPress site without coding, your capabilities are limited.
Webflow can not be at the same level of WordPress integration with third-party developers but provides a more user-friendly system for creating and managing websites. It’s all about smartness without coding, and it’s mostly geared to web design experts. Webflow provides an effective solution for most of the professional web design and development tasks.
Now it’s your choice to choose between the two of them. I hope this blog will help you find your ideal CMS platform.
If you have any doubts, please let me know in the comment section below.
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